Dolby Atmos audio is coming to the Xbox One

One of the gripes audiophiles have had with the Xbox One S is that despite the console's Ultra HD Blu-ray drive, it doesn't support next-gen audio standards. That changes sometime in the future for all* Xbox Ones with a free update adding Dolby Atmos playback (via bitstream). It's not nearly as dramatic as Sony adding 3D Blu-ray playback to the PlayStation 3 via an update in 2010, but for audio geeks this is pretty big news. And this is why buying a game console is a better idea than a standalone Blu-ray player: constant updates adding new features, rather than something with a fixed feature set that may never be updated. Now it's time to drop $1,500 on a soundbar that can help you make the most of that improved sound.

*A previous version of this article stated only the Xbox One S would have Atmos playback, it's since been updated to reflect the correction.

Click here to catch all the latest news from Microsoft's big Surface event.